Baptism of Fire

Baptism of Fire.

Captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard Snapdragon, straightened up and took a deep breath of cold air. He looked into the distance where he could see the towers of Lionheart Castle. Although the air was very cold, and his body started to shiver in the harsh wind of the late autumn, Capitan Snapdragon smiled.

After a second of admiring the view he decided that it is time to continue his voyage.

First thing first, he thought, and his horn glowed with faint pink light. The magic worked quickly, the unpleasant sensation of cold which had made him hunch his shoulders and draw his head in, disappeared. The spell, warming him, also muffled the hunger which had been eating at him for several hours. Snapdragon cheered up, made himself comfortable in the royal armor and, with greater attention than before, started to take stock of his surroundings.

The land around Lionheart Castle was famous for its wildness and inaccessibility, and the gap in the granite wall of Tail Mountains that was a vital landmark was not easy for an inexperienced eye to find. It was enough to turn down one of the numerous gullies and gorges to lose sight of it. And even he who knew the land, knew the way and knew where to look for the pass, could not allow himself to lose his concentration for an instant.

The unicorn looked up at the sky. The growing cold and increasing wind here, in the mountains, could herald a blizzard and he did not find the prospect of spending yet another night in a grotto or rocky nook too attractive. He could, if he had to, continue his journey even through a blizzard; he could locate the path using telepathy, he could – using magic – make himself insensitive to the cold. He could, if he had to. But he preferred not to have to.

Luckily, Lionheart Castle was already close. Snapdragon trotted on to flat scree, over an enormous heap of stones washed down by glaciers and streams, and rode into a narrow pass between rocky outcrops. The gorge walls rose vertically and seemed to meet high above him, only divided by a narrow line of sky. It grew warmer, the wind howling above the rocks could no longer reach to lash and sting at him.

The pass broadened, leading through a ravine and then into the valley, opening onto a huge depression, covered by forest, which stretched out amidst jagged boulders. The unicorn ignored the gentle, accessible depression rim and rode down towards the forest, into the thick backwoods. Dry branches cracked under his hooves.

Before long he emerged onto clearer land, trotting along the trough of a stream which barely trickled along the ravine bed. Snapdragon looked around carefully, finally finding what he was looking for. Over the gully, supported horizontally by enormous boulders, lay a mighty tree trunk, dark, bare and turning green with moss. Captain of the Royal Guard rode closer, wanting to make sure this was, indeed, the Trail and not a tree accidentally felled in a gale. But he spied a narrow, indistinct pathway disappearing into the woods. He could not be mistaken – this was definitely the Trail, a path encircling the old Lionhart Castle and beset with obstacles, where Royal Guard recruits trained to improve their running speeds and controlled breathing. The path was known as the Trail, but Snapdragon knew rookies had given it their own name: Slaughter-path.

Snapdragon bowed his neck and slowly trotted under the trunk. At that moment, he heard stones grating. And the fast, light hoofsteps of somepony running.

He turned and waited for the recruit to run out onto the log.

The recruit did run out onto the log, flitted along it like an arrow without slowing down to aid his balance on the slippery trunk – running nimbly, fluently, with incredible grace. He flashed by, approaching and disappearing amongst the trees without disturbing a single branch. Snapdragon sighed loudly, shaking his head in disbelief.

Because the recruit, judging by his height and build, was only about sixteen-eighteen years old tops.

Snapdragon trotted upstream. He knew the Trail cut across the ravine once more, at a spot known as the Gullet. He wanted to catch a glimpse of the young recruit once again. Royal Guard didn’t allow recruitment below age of 20.

He was not in a great hurry. The narrow, Slaughterpath meandered and looped its way through the forest and, in order to master it, the colt would take far longer than he would, following the shortcut. However, he could not loiter either. Beyond the Gullet, the Trail turned into the woods and led straight to the fortress. If he did not catch the boy at the precipice, he might not see him till the Lionhart Castle.

After a few minutes riding along the stony trough of the stream he caught sight of the Gullet – a leap over the gully created by two huge mossy rocks, overgrown with gnarled, stunted trees. He did not have to wait long. Colt’s silhouette appeared on the rock and the boy jumped, not slowing his pace. The captain heard the soft smack of his landing and a moment later a rattle of stones, the dull thud of a fall and a quiet cry. Or rather, a squeal.

Snapdragon instantly dropped his saddlebags, and dashed across the mountainside, pulling himself up using tree branches and roots. Momentum aided his climb until he slipped on the conifer needles and fell to his knees next to a figure huddled on the stones. The youngster, on seeing him, jumped up like a spring, backed away in a flash then tripped and collapsed between the junipers and pines. Snapdragon did not rise from his knees; he observed  the colt.

From beneath a blue fringe, poorly and unevenly cut, Snapdragon could see a long horn. The colt had predominant features in a small face with a narrow chin and upturned nose. His Turquoisish white coat was dirty from the fall. The colt stared at Snapdragon with enormous cerulean eyes . There was fear in those eyes.

“Don‘t be afraid,” Snapdragon said tentatively. The colt opened his eyes even wider. He was hardly out of breath and did not appear to be sweating. It was clear he had already run Slaughter-path more than once. “Nothing‘s happened to you?”

The colt did not reply, instead he sprang up, hissed with pain, and once more landed on his rump. Rookie lined over and started to rubbed his injured knee.

“Don‘t be afraid,” repeated Snapdragon, still not rising from his knees. “I heard your fall and wanted to see if nothing serious happened, that‘s why I rushed here”

“I slipped,” murmured the colt.

"Have you hurt yourself?”

“No. You?”

Snapdragon laughed, tried to get up, winced and swore at the pain in his right back leg ankle. He sat down and carefully straightened his back-leg, swearing once more.

“Come here, little one, help me get up.”

“I‘m not little.”

“If you say so. Come here and help me get up.”

The colt did not move from the spot.

“Have no fear,” said the Captain with a smile. “I‘m not a bandit or outsider I‘m Captain Snapdragon and I‘m going to Lionheart Castle. Don‘t gape at me. I respect your suspicion, but be reasonable. Would I have got this far if I hadn‘t known the way? Have you ever met a pony on the Trail?”

The colt overcame his hesitation, approached and stretched out his hoof. Snapdragon stood with only a little assistance.

“Show me your knee, little one.”

“I‘m not little.”

“Sorry. But surely you have a name?”

“I do. I‘m Shining Armor.”

“It‘s a pleasure. A bit closer if you please, Shining Armor.”

“It‘s nothing.”

“I want to see what ‘nothing‘ looks like. Ah, that‘s what I thought. ‘Nothing‘ looks remarkably like  coat grazed down to raw flesh. Stand still and don‘t be scared.”

“I‘m not scared… Awww!”

Snapdragon laughed and rubbed his forehead, itching from casting the spell. Shining Armor bent over and gazed at his knee.

“Oooh,” he said.” It doesn‘t hurt anymore! You have to be a powerful unicorn!”

„You‘ve guessed it.”

“Have you graduated from School for Gifted Unicorns in Canterlot?”

“In matter of fact I did. Why do you ask?”

“My sister is attending it.” Shining Armor smiled for a second but as soon as the smile arrived it was gone.” I haven’t visited her for two weeks and I have two more before I will have my first pass.”

“That’s the life of a soldier lad.“

“… I know.” Shining Armor looked into Snapdragon eyes and immediately understood that he is speaking to an officer.” Sir!”

Snapdragon smiled at the colt.“Come, Shining Armor. My saddlebags are waiting at the bottom. We‘ll go to Lionheart Castle together.”

“I ought to run.” Shining Armor shook his head. “It‘s not good to stop running because you get milk in your muscles. Captain Buttercup says…”

“Buttercup is at the keep?”

Shining Armor frowned, pinched his lips together and shot a glance at the captain from beneath his blue fringe. Snapdragon chuckled again.

“All right,” he said.” I won‘t ask. A secret is a secret, and you‘re right not to disclose it to somepony you hardly know. Come on. When we get there we‘ll see who‘s at the castle and who isn‘t. And don‘t worry about your muscles – I can teach you a spell that will help you with lactic acid. Let me help you get down… Damn it! What‘s this? Shining Armor?”

Snapdragon took a closer look at the colt. His shoulders were covered in massive bruises, suffused with blood. Most of them had already turned yellow; some were fresh.

“What the hell is this?” the Captain repeated angrily. ”Who beat you like this?”

“This?” Shining Armor looked at his shoulders as if surprised by the number of bruises.”Oh, this… That was the windmill. I was too slow.”

“What windmill? Bloody hell!”

“The windmill,” repeated Shining Armor, raising his huge eyes to look up at the Captain. ”It‘s a sort of… Well… I‘m using it to learn to dodge while attacking. It‘s got these paws made of sticks and it turns and waves the paws. You have to jump very quickly and dodge. You have to learn a refrex. If you haven‘t got the refrex the windmill wallops you with a stick. At the beginning, the windmill gave me a really terribly horrible thrashing. But now…”

Snapdragon trotted around the colt inspecting his body closely.” Oh, sweet Celestia! Lad! Can you really walk? Run?” Left thigh was black and blue with haematomas and swellings.

Shining Armor shuddered and hissed, when cold healing spell touched his back leg. Snapdragon swore viciously using inexpressibly foul Diamond Dog language.

“Was that the windmill, too?” he asked, trying to remain calm.

“This? No. This, this was the windmill.” Shining Armor pointed indifferently to an impressive bruise below his left knee. “And these other ones… They were the pendulum. I practice my doge ability on the pendulum. Sergeant says I‘m already good at the pendulum. He says I‘ve got… Flair. I‘ve got flair.”

“And if you run out of flair,“ Snapdragon ground his teeth together.” I take it the pendulum thumps you?”

“But of course,” the colt confirmed, looking at him, clearly surprised at this lack of knowledge.“ It thumps you, and how.”

“And here? On your side? What was that? A smith‘s hammer?”

Shining Armor hissed with pain and blushed. “I fell off the comb…”

“…and the comb thumped you,” finished Snapdragon, controlling himself with increasing difficulty.

Shining Armor snorted. “How can a comb thump you when it‘s buried in the ground? It can‘t! I just fell. I was practising a jumping pirouette and it didn‘t work. That‘s where the bruise came from. Because I hit a post.”

“And you lay there for two days? In pain? Finding it hard to breathe?”

“Not at all. Capitan Buttercup rubbed it and put me straight back on the comb. You have to, you know? Otherwise you catch fear.”

“What?”

“You catch fear,” Shining Armor repeated proudly.“ Didn‘t you know? Even when something bad happens to you, you have to go straight back to that piece of equipment or you get frightened. And if you‘re frightened you‘ll be hopeless at the exercise. You mustn‘t give up. Capitan Buttercup said so.”

“I have to remember that maxim,” Snapdragon murmured through his teeth.” And that it came from Buttercup. Not a bad prescription for life although I‘m not sure it applies in every situation. But it is easy to put into practise at somepony else‘s expense. So you mustn‘t give up? Even though you are being thumped and beaten in a thousand ways, you‘re to get up and carry on practising?”

“Of course. A Royal Guard is not afraid of anything.”

“Is that so? And you, Shining Armor? You aren‘t afraid of anything? Answer truthfully.”

The colt turned away and bit his lip. “You won‘t tell anypony?”

“I won‘t.”

“I‘m frightened of two pendulums. Two at the same time. And the windmill, but only when it‘s set to go fast.”

"Hell and bloody damnation! I‘m going to kill those cursed idiots!”

Shining Armor shrugged. Snapdragon looked at confused recruit.” Don’t worry I don’t meant you. Let’s go I can’t wait to see my old friend.”

After they found the captains saddlebags they moved off along the stream bed at a walking pace. They rode across another gully and climbed the rounded mountainside. From there they could see the Lionheart Castle huddled against the stone precipices – the trapezium of the defensive wall, the barbican and gate, the thick, blunt column of the donjon. Lionheart Castle was a military construction build to withstand a siege. Both from land and air. More than thousand years old enchantments still protected the castle making the walls resistant to any kind of magic. Lionheart Castle was also the training place for Royal Guard. Here new recruits were sent for intense military training and evaluation before they were accepted into the honorable ranks of Equestria finest.

Snapdragon and Shining Armor reached the moat and crossed it slowly through a wooden bridge. Snapdragon looked into the river that created the moat.

The decaying skulls and skeletons strewn across the river bed made no impression on him. He had seen them before.

“I don‘t like this,” Shining Armor suddenly remarked. “It‘s not as it should be. The dead should to be buried in the ground. Under a barrow. Shouldn‘t they?”

“They should,” Captain agreed calmly.” I think so, too. But the Royal Guard treat this graveyard as a… reminder.”

“Reminder of what?”

“Reminder that Equestria isn’t a totally peaceful land. That Royal Guard have to be ever vigilant because you never know from where the strike will come. There are enemies abroad and within. You see Lionhart Castle, was assaulted. There was a bloody battle here in which almost all of Day Guards died. Only those who weren‘t in the keep or were at Celestia side at the time, survived.”

”Who attacked them? And why?”

“Lunar Stallions, the Night Guard. It was long ago. Equestria has forgotten that, but we didn’t forgot our brothers who gave their lives for the Princess here.“ Snapdragon looked into the river and skeletons again.” And we didn’t forgot those who betrayed us.”

******

“Calm down, Snapy,” said large grayish earthpony stallion. ”It‘s unhealthy to get so worked up, especially with no reason.”

“Don‘t preach at me, Panzerhoof! And stop calling me Snapy! Sergeant you might out match me in years of service but I’m still your superior! But best of all, stop talking altogether. I‘m not speaking to you. Buttercup, have any of you seen how terribly battered this colt is? He hasn‘t got a single healthy spot on his body!”

“Don‘t let yourself get carried away by your emotions. You were brought up differently,” replied Buttercup. He was sitting calmly on a chair in front of Snapdragon.

“Don‘t give me that nonsense,” Snapdragon flared. ”Don‘t pretend you‘re stupid. This is Lionheart Castle! On these windmills and pendulums of yours, on this Slaughter-path of yours, dozens of ponies have broken their bones and twisted their necks, stallions who were hard, experienced Guards. I have never heard of a rookie that was given this kind of training. And where is the rest of them? I haven’t seen any more recruits.”

“Half the year castle is empty.” Buttercup sighed.” Princess reduced military funding so we train only enough to restock the current Guard numbers. We have recruits her from April till September. Rest of the year we are empty as you can see.”

"You are saying that Shining Armor is the only recruit in the castle?”

“Yes, and I admit that nopony was trained so intensely for a long time in those walls,” said Buttercup,” but those are her majesty direct orders. He is the reason you have been temporarily transferred here. Princess Celestia is very… hopeful about this colt.”

Snapdragon took a long look into his friends eyes. Buttercup looked back with sad expression.

“Do you have any idea who he is? Some kid of a elitist snob who wants his son to be a General?” Snapdragon asked finally.

“No.” Buttercup answered calmly.” Her majesty orders were clear in that part. We are to train him not break him. One thing I’m sure. He isn’t one of those Canterlot Elite types. No offence Snapdragon.”

“Non taken, mate”

“At first I was skeptical too,” continued Buttercup, ” but the colt has a heart of a Royal Guard. To be honest I have no idea why princess wants him to be trained so hard. Sergeant Panzerhoof has been transferred here to oversee his stamina training. To be honest he is the only pony who knows how to train on those damn windmills and pendulums. Princess Celestia have ordered me to tutor Shining Armor general education.”

Buttercup rose up from his seat spread his wings and slowly flow to a wooden board. He took out a letter from it.

“Those are your orders. Royal seal and probably her majesty personal writing,” said Buttercup and placed the letter in front of his unicorn friend.

Snapdragon levitated the letter and read it fast.

“Yes. I’m to train Shining Armor in offensive magic and sword fencing.” Snapdragon snorted aloud.” I’m ordered to train him everything I know about unicorn combat. I’m allowed to use any methods I consider necessary in my task.”

Snapdragon closed the letter and looked at Sergeant Panzerhoof. Mighty earthpony stallion observed him stoically. Panzerhoof wasn’t young and his face and eyes betrayed years of experience and this kind of wisdom that comes with age. But he didn’t look old. His chest and legs showed muscles that could break a tree in half.

Then he looked at his old friend Buttercup. Who was wearing Royal Pegasus Guard armor. The armor enchantment made him perfectly white. In his blue eyes he saw concern. Snapdragon know him long enough to know that Buttercup, didn’t like this situation, they have been placed in, at all.

“And now she sends you as his fencing trainer.” Buttercup broke the silence.” I truly have no idea what Princess needs this colt for but whatever it is it’s not a regular patrol around the library. We have to strategize now how to best prepare this colt for whatever she has in store for him. ”